A former electrical engineer who had proposed looking to both coal and renewable energy as possible solutions to Alaska’s energy crisis has been elected to the board of directors of the state’s largest energy cooperative.
The Chugach Electric Association announced the results Friday at its annual meeting.
Dan Rogers, a former company employee with experience connecting renewable energy to electric grids, said in an interview Monday that he wants to use his seat to focus on finding new sources of hydropower but will also consider all options for generating electricity.
Chairman Sam Casson, a lawyer and former public defender before the Alaska Regulatory Commission, lost his seat in the race.
“While I am of course disappointed, I deeply appreciate the support and endorsement I have received,” Cason said in a statement Monday.
Two incumbents and two challengers were running for two four-year terms in the election that ended on Friday.
Board member Mark Wiggin topped the results with 6,675 votes. Wiggin is a former deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who said in a debate last month that utilities need to increase renewable energy generation and reduce natural gas use.
Rogers received the second most votes with 6,449 votes.
Cason received 5,892 votes.
(From right to red to homelessness to zoning, the Anchorage Assembly will vote on a host of proposals Tuesday)
Todd Lindley, a mechanical engineer with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., placed fourth with 4,877 votes.
Utility Board elections have received more attention in recent years as Alaska faces a natural gas shortage in the Cook Inlet Basin.
The situation is expected to lead to LNG imports which will increase bills significantly. About 80% of the facility’s energy comes from natural gas, and the utility is studying wind and solar projects to help offset that reliance.
Nearly 13,000 utility members, about 14% of the membership, cast ballots in the month-long election.
Cason served on the Board of Directors for two terms, the last of which began in 2020.
Prominent groups have endorsed incumbents Kison and Wiggin.
Among them was the Alaska Center, a progressive group that works on a range of issues including environmental conservation and the Alaska Renewable Energy Project. The Alaska Center had said the incumbents are “proven community leaders who support the development and harnessing of renewable energy here at home.”
Lindley and Rogers ran independently of each other, but collaborated to voice their opinions, including through the campaign website.
Rogers, who has founded utility companies in areas such as transportation, said in an interview Monday that in addition to focusing on hydropower, he wants to help create a generation plan for economic utilities that could solve the energy crisis.
He said he supports wind and solar projects that are cost-effective and will do well.
But he said using readily available hydropower is the best way to stabilize wind and solar power, which can fluctuate.
“This is a natural resource that we haven’t really exploited the way we should have,” he said of hydropower.
“Everyone wants hydropower but no one wants hydropower near them, because they’re afraid it will hurt fisheries or something else,” he said. “So, if we really want to use renewables, we have to start seriously looking at hydropower again.”
Hydropower is Chugach Electric’s dominant source of renewable electricity. It is also the primary source of renewable electricity in Alaska. But many of the state’s hydroelectric projects were built decades ago.
In 2023, hydropower supplied about 90% of Alaska’s renewable electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In the discussion last month, Rogers called himself a “hydropower guy,” but also suggested it was possible to quickly develop a coal plant and outfit it with new carbon capture and storage technology to allow carbon dioxide emissions to be stored underground.
A University of Alaska Fairbanks study this year recommended building a coal-fired power plant in south-central Alaska to generate electricity for the rail belt. The study assumes that a coal power plant would be built on the controversial and proposed West Susitna Access Road near proven coal seams.
Rogers said Monday he was “committed to looking at all generational options.”
Rogers will attend his first Chugach Electric board meeting as a board member on Wednesday, he said. The agenda shows that LNG imports are available for discussion in the executive session, among other matters.
The tool has 91,000 members.
